Andrew Turkish Defeats Attempt to Join Client in Arbitration Proceeding
Andrew Turkish successfully defeated an application to join his client in an ongoing AAA Arbitration proceeding in New York. We represented an engineering firm who was hired by the general contractor in connection with a construction project involving the construction of a large warehouse. The owner asserted damages in excess of $17.5 million against the general contractor and its subcontractors, including our client. The owner had an arbitration clause in its contract with the general contractor. The general contractor attempted to join our client to the arbitration proceeding based on a separate contract with our client that contained a provision that required our client to abide by the binding arbitration provision in the owner-GC contract. However, the contract between the owner and GC also had a provision that required third parties to arbitrate only if they consented. Since our client did not consent to binding arbitration, the R-7 Arbitrator ruled that our client was not bound by the arbitration provision in the owner’s contract and refused to join our client in the AAA proceeding. The teaching lesson is to carefully read all contract provisions to make sure that an arbitration provision says what the party demanding arbitration claims it says. In this case, the general contractor did not have the contractual right to compel arbitration to those parties unwilling to arbitrate.
Andrew S. Turkish